Inside the cave abode, the fragrance of wine curled through the air, so rich it almost took tangible form.
Gu Changqing leaned crookedly against the bluestone, cradling the Wine God Gourd in his arms, his face flushed and his eyes hazy with drunkenness.
Nuwa sat upright on the stone stool opposite him. The astonishment on her exquisite face had now given way to gravity and contemplation.
Her gaze passed through the cave abode's stone door, as though she could still see the three monkeys waiting outside.
The Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey, the Long-Armed Ape, and the Six-Eared Macaque.
"Nephew Changqing."
Nuwa finally spoke. Her tone was calm, but it held a seriousness that would brook no evasion.
"Now that things have come this far, surely you owe me an honest answer?"
She paused, her gaze blazing like a torch as she looked straight into Gu Changqing's drunken, hazy eyes.
"Just what secrets do these monkeys hold?"
"Why does the Buddhist School place such importance on that Stone Monkey?"
"And how do you know all of this?"
Three questions in succession, each striking at the heart of the matter.
It was not that Nuwa had no guesses of her own, but guesses were still only guesses.
She needed definite answers. She needed to know exactly what Gu Changqing was planning.
In other words, even though Nuwa was a Sage, she now found her own perceptions less convincing than Gu Changqing's answers.
Meanwhile, upon hearing Nuwa's string of questions, Gu Changqing did not evade them. Instead, he broke into a grin.
That smile remained lazy, casual, and tinged with an infuriating drunkenness.
Yet there was something more in it now... candor.
"Urp..."
He let out a wine burp. The wine-laden breath condensed into a golden lotus in the air, blooming for a moment